Those of you hoping to enter Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2019 won’t be able to throw your own hat in the ring. That’s because YLE’s Eurovision team will invite the artist — or artists — it wants for Eurovision 2019 without a public application process.
Following the success of UMK 2018, which saw Saara Aalto invited by the broadcaster to perform three songs of her choosing, YLE hopes to repeat and refine the experiment.
“The UMK of 2018 showed that through the invitation contest we will be able to invest more in performances and other content,” UMK producer Anssi Autio said on the official UMK web site. “We’ll continue to develop the concept now and from this point of view.
“The final form of the contest — whether one or more artists are invited — is still open.”
“We have had contact and have been in contact with record companies, producers, songwriters and artists. We are currently discussing different options and opportunities.”
YLE reports that its 2018 UMK broadcast reached 1.4 million viewers. That had knock-on effects for Eurovision itself, where the broadcaster lassoed in 2.5 million Finns.
The broadcaster also recorded hits from 289,000 browsers during the week of UMK — a record.
Eurovision fans will remember that Saara took Finland back to the final by placing 10th in the stacked first semi. It was Finland’s first appearance in the Saturday night show since 2014. In the grand final Saara came 25th.
Her uptempo dance number “Monsters” had a dark title yet was full of light — its message of perseverance and pushing past haters and hangups came with a delightful tropical feel. Best of all it showcased Saara’s voice even amid all the clangs and electro bangs.
The “Monsters” lyrics made it clear that Miss Aalto was had a self-reckoning. Any and all tricks once used to pull her down have lost their power. She’s found her self — and her supporters — and is feeling invincible tonight. As she sings, sometimes you have to hit the bottom to start moving toward the top.
“At my worst I found my army strong/ all the demons are gone/ You can try and scare me now, but I ain’t scared no more/ I ain’t scared no more.”
Which artist or artists do you want to see Finland invite? Let us know down below..
Mistake. Yes, Finland has stumbled from 2015-2017, under its UMK format. I loved Finland this year, but a 25th place finish in the final does not scream “success.” Step back to 2014 Finland…they finished on the left-hand side of the scoreboard. Finland should go back to that.
I hope Sara Forsberg (aka Saara, aka Smoukahontas) gets an invite…
Which rocker could they send next year? They won in 2006 with Lordi, and they barely missed the top 10 (11th) in 2014 with Softengine. It must be said, though, they blew it in 2015 with PKN.
@Pablo: Yes; Mikael Saari definitely deserves another shot! He should have gone to Eurovision 2016 instead of Sandhja. The minute they chose her, I knew they would not qualify.
Sara Forsberg said she doesn’t want to go to Eurovision, because she dislikes the competitive aspect of it. She would’ve been a great candidate tho. 🙁
Saara deserved more ! She is a star!
Hope they will save some money for the songwriters tickets…
I would have liked for a public call to still be there!
The music videos for the selected songs were not needed and they can save money by not doing that! But excluding unestablished artists without even hearing the songs they have on offer is against the spirit of Eurovision!! I like the National finals tbh!
SANNI is Finland’s key
Oh i cannot stand that singing to your nose style
I think this is the best way to go for a country stuck in a rut like Finland.
By having Saara they’ve helped realise to the Finnish record companies how good the exposure of eurovision is.
Saara has 3 successful singles and released a great album during the eurovision hype.
By doing this serious artist will be encouraged to enter and music labels will see the huge potential and submit high quality.
It also helps to narrow the quality variance by having fewer ‘designed for eurovision’ songs.
Finland’s recent failures were not due to bad song quality in the selection but rather due to bad winners from the bunch!! 2015- Crossroads, Heart of light, Mustelmat would have definitely atleast reached the final 2016- No fear would have reached the final 2017- Arrows would have reached the final in my opinion So there were better mainstream options but the winner was poor With this internal invitation method , there will be little diversity in the selection and only established artists will go based not on the song quality but based on the power of their name and we… Read more »
Maybe. Maybe not. It’s impossible to prove without an alternate universe where those songs competed in ESC.
I agree, Finland often makes mistakes in their national selection.
Is Evelina bad singer in general? I seriously hope not! 😮
Please Nova Miller, Saara (not Aalto but the one who sang “Superpowers”), Emma, Robin and Jenni Vartiainen!!
Pretty sure Nova’s Swedish. Could be wrong though.
Nova Miller is born in Helsinki according to Wikipedia
Nothing to do with umk but melodifestivalen’s youtube page isn’t geoblocked for australians anymore.
bad idea
Robin
My Top 7 picks for Finland (if they’re really rolling with this)
1. ALMA
2. Robin
3. Emma
4. Tarja Turunen
5. Antti Tuisku
6. Alva
7. Krista Seigfried
Unfortunately the only place we’ll see Krista Siegfrids is at Melodifestivalen and HOSTING Uuden Musiiken Kilpailu
i’m so confused in other languages they change people’s names sometimes?! like in the umk article they call her ‘Saara Aallolle’ and on a Czech tv report they called Martina Barta ‘Martinu Bartu’ 😛
and ‘Mikolase Josefa’ :O
“Saara Aallolle” is the allative case form of “Saara Aalto.” It is used to replace the word “to” or “onto”. So “Saara Aallolle” means “to Saara Aalto”. I hope you understood.
kiitos 🙂
Something like Robyn said. For example, Crotian language has a thing called “padeži”, which is hard to explain to those maternal language is, let’s say, English or Spanish, but I’ll try. In short, depending on the context a noun or adjective found themselves in, they change the form a bit. Example: Name Nina In English, you’d say “I am going with Nina. ” In Croatian, it’s “Idem s Ninom.” Doesn’t mean her name changed, only the context. It is VERY complicated, especially for the foreigners, since there are 7 of forms, but also different set of endings depending on the… Read more »
Please, send something like:
Evelina – Tornado
Alma – Phases
Isac Elliot – She
Robin – Hula Hula
Antti Tuisku – Pyydä multa anteeks kunnolla
Haloo Helsinki – Beibi
JVG – Popkorni
Isac Elliot needs to delete himself, he has no personality or talent. Robin is the only it boy from Finland, and I’ve been longing for him to do Eurovision!
Haloo Helsinki deffinitely
It was a big deal that we made the finals again. That is something I don’t know if many understand. That is how low our expectations have become. So, my hope is for a streak of qualifications for the next few years, within which the placing is secondary. If we manage to qualify enough, it will raise the profile of ESC in Finland and that will make our top artists and songwriters pay attention. Good things can come out of this. Then one day, if we do this right, we may well make a few appearances on the left hand… Read more »
Im from Sweden and here we think we will Qualify every year and come top 5 or win. I think we have to high expectations on our songs every year. For example this year when Benjamin was second in the jury i thought it was to high and afraid that we would win
. haha strange maybe but i didnt think we were the best. 7th place was about right :). Finland was to low. But it was a hard year so she may have been forgotten in all the mainstream pop songs sady.
They should send one of those new pop girls like Evelina, with the ultimate bop. Finland has been in the top ten only once since 1990, time to change that!
Yeah, no. I’m sorry, but Evelina absolutely can’t sing live. Her technique is terrible. Maybe if she gets quality voice lessons, she could be an option. But for now, no.
We’ve had awful live singers win the contest in the past ten years. It’s a SONG contest, not a talent show.
I know, but you need to have at least decent singing skills in Eurovision. You should listen to her live performances, and then make up your opinion.
What if Evelina learned to sing opera? 😛
Doesn’t Saara Aalto fit in that category?
Nope.
On one side it prevents of having those amateurs who are only for the fame and doesn’t even care to be successful in Eurovision (which I really don’t like these contestants, I’m so sick of having them constantly every year in Eesti Laul), thus avoiding failures. But on the other side you’re losing an opportunity to have really good songs/performances from lesser known artists, which may actually have potential to reach high places. Because let’s be real here: “Monsters” qualified thanks to the televotes and being 10th qualifier is literally on the edge, not to mention how they placed in… Read more »
While there were a lot of missteps with the staging of “Monsters,” it’s disapointing performance has to be taken with the fact that this year’s contest turned out to have a pretty strong field.
It’s time for the Finnish Renaissance at Eurovision.
Alma, please
Reino Nordin!!!!
I really like his songs!
Jannika B is another option. She was also a Finnish jury member in the contest (in 2016, I think).
Idk, they had a successful program before. Sure they missed out on some finals, but UMK itself was successful. This new method will certainly save them money, but not necessarily bring them success.
It depends on how you view sucees. For Finland getting into final is a sucees. On that aspect it was a huge sucees. It makes sense they will stick to that formula for now.
Finland isn’t Sweden. They can’t expect to reach the final every year. So if this brings them another final spot then why not..
William asked for artists that we want to see in the national final 2019. My answer is: Saara Aalto again ????????
It has to be the year of Mikael Saari!!!!!
Yes please!!! He was robed two times I a row, now it’s his time to shine! And I’m longing for more music from him
Whoops I meant robbed